Apparatus for embossing fabrics



NOV- l, 1932- J. MILLER ET AL.

APPARATUS F'OR EMBOSSING FABRICS Nov. 1, 1932. J. MILLER ET Al.

` APPARATUS F011 EMBOSSING FABRICS Filed June 17, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 1, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAMES MILLER, or BRIXTOMLON'DON, AND ABRAM SIMON, or `BOW, LONDON, i

ENGLAND APPARATUS ron nMBossINerl Ynannies Application led June 17, 1930, Serial No. 461,723, andjn (zrreatr Britain September 25, 1929.

This invention relates to apparatusfor ribbing iiexible material, and it has for its object to provide simple and efficient apparatus whereby fabrics or other flexible material may be ribbed to produce a decorative effect.

According to this invention the ribbing is produced by means of dies actingupon the material ina `manner such that the part to be permanently raised is pressed out of the plane of the material, and when in this condition is subjected to laterally applied pressure, the parts, if desired, being heated to ensure the setting of the material.

According to this invention the ribbing is effected by means of a die comprising two jaws or members, one or both of which may have a reciprocal motion, said members being provided upon the upper surfaces with raised or sharpened edges, which press into the material so that when the jaws are closed they will act to compress the material between them. In order to secure the effective operation of the jaws, there is provided amember designed to engage the outer surface of the material, such member beiner composed of or having a surface formed of some yielding material, such for example, as felt.

In order that the invention may be the better understood, the accompanying drawings are appended, in which Fig. 1 is va front view of a machine embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on line A-A Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view.

Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views to a larger scale, showing certain details.

Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective views showing certain further details.

1 indicates generally the frame of the machine which comprises end members 2, 2 held together in spaced relationship by means of tie bars 3.

ported thereon at its ends is an inclined plate 4 extending transversely of the machine and having at its lower end a ridge 5, between which and the upper portion of the said plate is disposed a channel or groove@ in which Referring to the'accompanying drawings,

Disposed between the members 2 and supis disposed a heating element 7 above which is situated a die 9 comprised of jaws 9a, 9", extending from side to side of the said plate and normally maintained in spaced relationship by means of springs such as 10 disposed at suitable intervals. throughout the length of the die and located within recesses 11 formed within the inner faces of the jaws, the ridge 5 acting to support the lower die 9. The jaws 9a, 9b are provided at their inner upper edges with projections 12, 12a, having substantially sharp edges, the arrangement being such that when a felt pad 18 carried upon a bar 14 is lowered onto the material, which is fed, by means which will be hereinafter more fully described, over the projections 12, 12a as shown more clearly in Fig. 4, to press the material onto the said projections, and the jaw 9a is moved, by means which will also be later described, toward the jaw 9b, the material is caused to bulge between the said jaws as shown in Figure 5, and thus enables them to compress the same to form the rib. i

l'indicates the flywheel of the machine which may be connected by means of a belt to a driving motor, not shown, the motion thus received 'being communicated through a transmission gear disposed within the gear box 16 to a Cam shaft 17 extending transversely of the machine and journalled at its ends in bearings formed within the members 2.

Mounted at points near each end of the shaft 17 is a cam 18 which engages with a roller 19 mounted upon the lower end. of a body 20 designed to be periodically moved by the said cam against the action of a spring 21, and su ported at its lower end upon the shaft 1,7 wlliich passes through a slot 22 within the said body. i

Disposed upon the plate 4 at a point slightly above the jaw 9, and extending from side to side of the said plate, is a body 28 which is slidably mounted and connected at its ends to the bodies 2O at each side of the machine, each of the said bodies being provided with a slot 2()a through which the ends of the body 23 pass, suitable adjusting bolts24t and 24 being provided respectively within the bodies 20 and 23 for effecting the adjustment of the body 23 longitudinally of the slots 20a, this last mentioned body being operatively connected by means of adjusting screws 25 to the upper jaw 9 to cause the same to be periodically moved toward the jaw 9b.

In order to prevent the lateral displacement of the body 23, end plates 26 are provided thereon, which are of somewhat greater width than the width of the slots 20a.

27 indicates a shaft extending transversely of the machine and journalled at its ends in bearings formed in the frame members 2, and mounted upon each end of which shafts are the lower ends of inclined arms 28, having forked upper extremities, which serve to support the ends of a bar 29 extending transversely of the machine and connected byk means of distance pieces to thebar 14, which, as previously stated, carries the felt pad 13.

The arms 28 are rigidly connected together by means of the tie-bar 30.

Mounted upon the shaft 27 at points near each end thereof, are downwardly extending arms 31 each provided at their lower ends with a roller 23 with which engages a cam 33 disposed upon the shaft 17, the arrangement being such that the cams 33act through the arms 31 to reciprocate the arms 28 in suitably timed relationship to the reeiprocation of the jaw 91 toward and away from t-he jaw 9".

For the purpose of causing the pad 1 3 to be applied with the requisite pressure to the fabric, springs 34 "are provided between the ends of the t-ie-bar 30 and levers 35 mounted upon the inner faces of the members 2 m the manner shown in Figure 2, the said levers at their forward ends extending somewhat beyond the forward edges of the said members upon which are mounted notched plates 36l with the notches of which the said levers are designed to engage, and whereby the tension of the said springs may be adjusted.`

Extending transversely of the machine and slidably mounted by means of end plates 37 upon the upper portion of the plate 4 is a plate 38 provided at points near its ends with brackets 39 arranged perpendicularly thereto.

Carried aty each of its ends bythe lower portions of the brackets 39 is a transversely` extending rod 40 of square cross-sectional outline, upon which is mounted the upper end of a vertically inclined plate 41 arranged parallel with the plate 4 and extending over the body 23 to a point near the jaw 9a. i

Carried between the upper ends of the brackets 39 and pivotally mounted ther-ebetween is a rod 42 of similar cross-sectional outline to the rod 40 and disposed in parallel alignment therewith, and to which rod is secured the upper end of a plate 43 which is inclined with respect to the plate 41 and is of such size that its lower end normally contacts with the lower end of the plate 4l.

Mounted at their lower ends upon the extremities of the bar 42 and upon the forward face thereof, are vertically disposed bodies 44 having their upper ends bent over at a right angle to the main body portions thereof and provided thereat with screws 45 adjustable by means ofpbutterfly nuts 46 and connected at their lower ends to the upper ends of springs 47 which in turn are connected at their lower ends to hooks or pins such as 48 carried by the bar 40. The springs 47 are in a state of tension to thus maintain the required pressure of contact between the meeting edges of the plates 43 and 41, so that when the plate 38 is reciprocated, by means now to be described, in suitably timed relationship with the operation of the die, the material which passes between the plates 41 and 43, is fed from the roll indicated by m, carried upon the shaft 47, supported from brackets 48 upon the members 2, over the rollers 49 carried by brackets 50, also mounted upon the members 2, and into the machine.

T he reciprocation of the plate 38 is effected by means of cams 5l, 51 disposed at points near'the end of the shaft 17 and between the cams 18 and 33.

The cams 51, 51 each engage with a roller 52 carried upon the lower end of an arm 53, each of which arms is pivotally connected at its upper end to its respective members 2, the said arms being of arcuate shape and provided throughout the major portion of their length with arcuate slots 54 through which pass adjustable bolts 55 which may be clamped in any position within the length of the said slots by means of butterfly nuts 56,

which engages with the upper end of a slot 3 59 formed within the lower end of a vertically inclined strip 60 fixed at its upper end to its respective bracket 39 between which and the said stud is connected a spring 61, the arrangement being such that an elastic connection exists between the links 57 and the strips 60 during the forward movement of the plates 41 and 43, but during the return movement thereof the connection is positive owing to the fact that the stud 58 is in engagement with the upper end of the slot 59.

rlhe purpose of this last mentioned arrangement is for permitting the plate 38 to be moved into its rear-most position independently of the operation of the machine should this for any reason be desired b v grasping a handle 62 provided at the upper end of a lever 63 pivoted at its lower end to the frame of the machine and so disposed that it may be moved into engagement with A a pin 64 projecting from one of the bracliets 39 as shown in Fig. 3.

65 indicates a handle disposed at the upper end of a rod 66 secured at its lower end to the bar ll2, the purpose of this beingto permit the plate i3 to be moved out of contact with the plate Zll should this at any time be desired.

The cams 5l are so timed that the plates 43 and al which grip and feed the material between their forward edges, move forward during the period when the jaws 9a, 9b, of the die are apart and move rearwardly along the material during the periods when the said jaws have firmly closed upon the material.

If desired a suitable tray or plate held by brackets such as 6l' may be provided torre ceive the ribbed material as it leaves the machine. 1

In order to avoid any tendency of the plate a3 to buckle and cause the uneven feeding of the material it has been found advantageous to slot the said plate in the. manner shown in Figure 6. v f 1 rlhe plate 4, a section of which is shown in Figure 7, is slotted in a similar manner to prevent its buckling owing to the action of the heat from the heater at its lower end.

Whilst we have described the preferred embodiment of the invention and have given a specific embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to such preferred embodiment, but may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

Claims:

1. Apparatus for ribbing flexible material comprising a member, a second member, springs for holding said members normally apart, projections on said members, means for operatinor one of said members against the action of said springs, and means for causing the material to be alternately enand compressed by said members and for releasing same therefrom.

2. Apparatus for ribbing flexible material comprising ainember, a second member,V

springs for holding said members normally apart, projections on said members, means for operating one of said members against the action of said springs, and means for causing the material to be alternately engaged and compressed by said members and for releasing saine therefrom, and means for intermittently feeding the material at such times as it is not being acted upon by the said ribbing members. A

8. Means for ribbing flexible material comprising a fixed body, a member supported by said fixed body, a projection on said member, a movable body, a member carried by said movable body, means for reciprocating said movable body, means for intermittently feeding the material, and means for causing the material to be engaged by the said projections and pressed between them..

the material between them and to free saidV material, and means for heating the ribbing members. y

5. vApparatus for ribbing flexible material comprising a fixed body, a member carried by said fixed body, a projection on said member, a movable body, a member carried by said movable body, a projection on said second member, springs interposed between said members, means for heating said members carried by said fixed body, means for reciprocating said movable body, means for intermittently moving theinaterial over said projections, a. vertically reciprocating member carrying a pad designed to engage and press the material on to the projections.

' 6. Apparatus for ribbing flexible material comprising a member, a second member, springs normally holding said members apart, projections on said members, means for causing said material to be engaged by said projections and means for producing relative movement of the members to alternately compress the material between them and to free said material.

7 Apparatus for ribbing flexible material comprising a member, Ya second member,

springs for holding said members normally apart, projections on said members, means for causing the material to be alternately engaged and compressed by said members and for releasing same therefrom, means for intermittently, feeding the material at such times as it is not being acted upon by the said members, and means for heating the said members.

8. Apparatus for ribbing flexible material comprising a member, a second member, springs for holding said members normally apart, projections on said members, means for operating one of said members against the action of said springs, means for intermittently feeding the material, a vertically reciprocating body disposed above the material, a pad on said body designed to engage the material, and means operating said pad carrying body to cause same to engage the material and press same upon said projections.

9. Apparatus for ribbing flexible material comprising a fixed body, a member carried by said fixed body, a projection on said member, a movable member designed to cooperate with said first member to press the material, a projection upon said second member, means for heating said members carried by said fixed body, a shaft, means operably connecting said movable member with said shaft to reciprocate said member, arms, a pad supported from said arms and disposed above the members, a second shaft carrying said arms, other arms upon said shaft, rollers on said arms, cams upon said rst shaft engaging said rollers of said second arms, springs operating to draw said pad towards the ribbing members, means for feeding the material operated by said first shaft.

l0. Apparatus for ribbing flexible material comprising a fixed body, a member carried by said fixed body, a projection on said member, a movable member designedto cooperate with said first member to press the material, 15 a projection upon said second member, means for heating said members carried by said fixed body, a shaft, means operably connecting said movable body with said shaft to reciprocate said body, arms, a pad supported from o said arms and disposed above the members, a second shaft carrying said arms, other arms upon said shaft, rollers on said arms, cams upon said first shaft engaging said rollers of said second arms, springs operating to draw i s: said pad towards the ribbing members, a slide movable upon the fixed body, a plate carried by said slide, a second plate inclined with respect to said first plate, a springacting upon said first plate to cause the inner edge thereof to engage the inner edge of the second plate, and grip the material passing between them, brackets, pivotally mounted arms upon said brackets, rollers upon said arms engaging cams upon the first shaft, links connecting 35 said pivotally mounted arms with the slide and a spring opposing the movement of the said slide in one direction.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

40.' JAMES MILLER.

ABRAM SIMON. 

